The Phoenix of the leaf
by girlpod50000
Summary: And so she danced with the darkness everyday letting it consume her and eat away her soul. Until finally one day, there was nothing left. When you thought she was too weak to put herself back together again. She shot through death and hell rising above anything you could ever dream to be. (I do not own Naruto and chapter lengths will of course be longer afar the first chapter.)
1. Chapter 1

Another day gone and Sakura was coming back to her empty apartment after a long mission. It was supposed to be a simple one, because they thought she couldn't take more than the small ones. It went from B to S quicker than anyone could see coming. Sakura went from delivering a highly important scroll, to overthrowing a tyrant. Seven months used on what was supposed to be a two week mission. She would have been happy, ecstatic even about her accomplishment. The people of Tea country praised her and thanked her for almost single handedly taken out the tyrant's army. The shinobi smiled at the thought, but the smile was replaced with a frown as she thought of what happened when she came back. Because of this certain mission Sakura was unable to contact the Kage.

Any messengers that were sent to other villages were intercepted and captured. The obvious course of action for her was to stick around and help the people. Sakura had after all witnessed several people get beheaded in the town square, on her first day. There was no way in hell she was going to abandon them. So she helped the rebellion and took down the tyrant. When Sakura got back, the Hokage was far from happy with her. She recounted her travels and instead of being proud of her, he took her off the roster. It was bad enough Sakura was being given mediocre missions, now because she 'put herself in unneeded danger.' she was off the roster for good. She couldn't take it anymore, sitting here doing nothing. Wasting away as everyone she loved sored through the sky reaching their dreams and going beyond imagination with what they could achieve. A sigh escaped the girl's lips as she plopped down onto her couch onto her stomach. Sakura couldn't take this endless routine of the same thing, all of the codling and acting like she was a porcelain doll ready to break. She pushed herself up off of her couch and looked around the darkroom, determination swirling in her eyes.

She was going to do it this time, she was finally going to leave. Sakura rushed around her apartment packing things she deemed important enough to be taken. A smile slowly making it's way to her face as she shoved things into different scrolls.

" _You're too weak for this mission Sakura."_ She halted in her room as the voice swam in her head. " _You shouldn't push yourself with an A mission, try a B instead."_ Sakura grit her teeth as they began to get louder. " _Oh Sakura are you hurt, you have a cut on your side I knew I shouldn't have given you this mission."_ She clenched her hands into fists as she began to shake. " _You don't need to train Sakura you might hurt yourself." "Maybe you should just work at the hospital from now on, that way you will be safe."_ Hot tears began to cloud her vision as she sank to the ground. " _I'm taking you off the roster, you have no idea how much you worried everyone here."_

" _But Kakashi I couldnt send-"_

" _Sakura, I'm not taking excuses, you should have contacted us and let one of the more capable shinobi take over."_

"I am a Shinobi." Sakura whimpered as she dug her fingers into her hair and bit her lip until she felt blood. "I am a Shinobi, I am capable, I'm NOT WEAK!" She screamed through sobs. She couldnt take it, the disappointed looks, the whispers. Sakura hated it, everything in this village made her sick. She wanted to disappear, no that's not what she wanted. She wanted to rise above them, to prove to them that she was strong enough. However every time Sakura thought she did, they didn't listen. All they saw when they looked at her was a weak little girl still love struck and useless. Sakura sobbed laying on the ground as the voices swam in her mind telling her how weak and useless she was. Then finally, sleep came from the depths of her mind and slowly lulled her into its domain.

" **How pathetic, I've been gone for how long, and you already let them tear you apart."** A sigh echoed out of Sakura's mouth and she stood turning pale as she did. The moonlight shone through her bedroom window illuminating the black swirling eyes that opened. " **Sad little Sakura played right into their hands, so dependant on their words and their opinions."** Sakura's body sat on her bed crossing one le over the other. Her arms crossed over her chest as a frown marred her pale face. Letters began to carve themselves into her forehead as she tapped her foot against the ground restlessly. " **I've always wanted to take over your body outer, but not when you're in such a useless state."** Another sighed exited her mouth and the last of the word was carved it read 'Inner.' " **What to do what to do, I could leave, finish her plans for her but then she would most likely hate me and I can't have that, at least not yet."** She pursed her lips in thought as she brought a hand up to her chin. " **I could always bide my time, but then she would never leave without someone actually pushing her to do so."** I wicked grin appeared on Inner's face as she thought of the perfect plan. Standing up and putting on a cloak Inner strapped a large scroll to her back and slipped on a kunai pouch. " **Only a few hours left, looks like I better get to work."** Inner grinned then disappeared into the night easily sneaking past the guards and out of the village gates.

Sakura woke the next morning with a raging headache and her entire body hurting. She confusedly looked at her attire and realized she was changed into Pj's and on her bed. She looked around her room seeing nothing else disturbed and narrowed her eyes. A thought came to Sakura that both frightened and excited her. Now Sakura was smart, that was no secret, so whoever came into her apartment would probably know this. Meaning of course, that no one would ever come into her apartment without her say so, which she definitely didn't give to anyone. This gave only one possibility, which made her grin from ear to ear.

"Inner, are you back?"

" **Hey cupcake how's it going?"**


	2. Decision

**Okay guys, just wanted to say, if I update within two to three days of each update the updates will be about this long. However if I update like every saturday once a week then the updates will be about four to five thousand words long.**

"Inner, you're really back, but why?" Sakura questioned and she felt Inner shrug.

" **The only reason I was here in the first place was because of your lack of confidence when you were a kid, you were good for a while but now, you're back to square one."** Sakura hung her head as he eyes clouded over with sadness, Inner was right. " **Hey, none of that now that's the thing that brought me back in the first place, I have an idea, go outside the village today."** Sakura's head shot up and she narrowed her eyes. " **Now before you start with that just listen, go to the herb field on the outskirts of Konoha, I have a feeling you find something interesting there."** Sakura narrowed her eyes and pursed her lips as she thought of what Inner said.

"Did you do something when I was asleep last night Inner?" There was silence in her mind for a moment and Sakura grit her teeth. "Inner?" She questioned angrily.

" **Of course not Saku, what do you take me for?"** Sakura sighed and stood up going to her closet to get dressed.

"Fine, but if something bad happens I'm blaming you."

" **I wouldn't have it any other way."**

Why did he have to make that bet, he should have known that something was wrong with that monster. She black eyes for Kami's sake, he shouldn't have been so stupid. However he was always a man of his word, even if that meant following a demons crazy instructions.

"What did she even mean, if I win this fight, teach me, not this me but the other me to fight, what does that mean..." The man in question fell forward as he heard his name yelled through the forest.

"Tobi what are you doing we have a mission un?!" Tobi scratched his head going back into his childish persona.

"Sorry senpai, Pein-sama said that once we got near Konoha Tobi was supposed to do some things there for a few days." Deidara furrowed his brows in confusion.

"When did he say that un?" Tobi looked at Deidara innocently the one eyes showing starting to water.

"You don't trust Tobi senpai?" His eye bulged animatedly as he started to cry and Deidara sighed.

"Fine, whatever, do what you want un." Tobi jumped back up happily and Deidara narrowed his eyes. "But if you're lying the punishment you get is on you."

"Why would Tobi ever lie to you Deidara Senpai?" Deidara rolled his eyes and vanished. Tobi dropped his persona with a sigh.

"I suppose I should just start heading to the field then." He rubbed his temples thinking about what a pain that woman was. "Sakura was her name right?" He questioned himself as he walked toward Konoha.

Once Sakura had gotten dressed she walked toward the hospital in the middle of Konoha confusing Inner.

" **The exit to the village is the other way pumpkin."** Sakura rolled her eyes and adjusted her satchel on her back.

" _I know that, I'm going to do my rounds at the hospital."_ Sakura said inside her head to Inner.

" **Seriously, you're still doing that crap, even after all this village has done to you, just go to the damn field."** Inner fumed inside her head and Sakura sighed.

" _I will after this, it will only take an hour, that is unless someone's waiting for me there?"_ Sakura questioned and Inner remained quite. " _Good then stop complaining."_ Sakura walked into the hospital greeting the receptionist with a smile and a wave. She grabbed her badge from the counter and decided to just pin it on her shirt rather than getting a coat. She did her quick rounds around the hospital checking on each patient before returning her badge. It was quicker than she thought it was and she sighed. She had a sinking feeling that whatever Inner had planned was going to be very bad. She walked through the village to the gate and was stopped by the two guards.

"Where are you headed Haruno?" She turned to Izumo and handed him a scroll. The Hokage's signature perfectly forged on it with the fake papers. It was against the law but she did it from time to time, just to get out of the village. Of course Kakashi couldn't do anything about it because he had no idea she knew how to copy his signature. "Alright you're fine." Sakura smiled and walked through the gate grabbing the scroll on her way out. It was a thirty minute run to the herb field, she might as well start running. She jumped through trees as she made her way to the field cutting her last time in half. Once her foot landed in the grass of the field she looked at her watch and hmmed.

"Fifteen minutes, cool."

"You're late." Sakura's head shot up quickly as she looked across the field. There sitting on a rock staring at her through a mask was one of the most dangerous men in the world. Sakura flipped out a kunai and stepped back glaring at him.

"Inner what the hell did you do?!" She questioned out loud and cursed when Inner didn't respond. Tobi looked at her with confusion and remembered something she had said the night after the fight. 'You might want to use your happier personality on her, she'll trust you faster if you do.' Now that he looked at the woman before him and compared her to the one last night her noticed a few differences. Her stance was different, her attitude and her appearance were as well. The one from the night of the fight was confident and crazy in her movements. This one was much less confident and was very clearly scared of him. He quirked a brow and let a smirk go to his face, now he understood. She has two personalities, much like Zetsu. Thinking of this he completely changed his demeanor and jumped off the rock.

"Did you forget Tobi already, Sakura-san asked Tobi to teach her to fight but it was weird because Sakura was stronger than Tobi, but this Sakura-san is much different than last night." He gave off the curiousness he needed to convey as he rambled and looked at her. He smirked under his mask as he saw it begin to work, she loosened her grip on her kunai.

"I don't understand," Sakura said slowly as she looked at him.

"Yep Tobi thinks you are different, is Sakura-san a different person than the other Sakura-san?" He questioned appearing in front of her with the demeanor of a child.

"Uh..."

" **Just say yes and make this less painful for everyone."** Inner seemed to be at her last straw as she listened to them talk.

"Yes." Sakura breathed tightening her grip on her kunai as confusion swam through her brain.

"Okay, then Tobi will teach you the first lesson." Before Sakura could react she had the kunai she was holding in her hand to her throat. He eyes widened and Tobi tilted his head to the side cutely.

"Remember blossom-chan, never lose grip on your weapon and never trust an enemy." He stepped back tossing her back her kunai. Sakura caught it easily and looked at him even more confused than before.

" **Just go with it hun, it'll be better for everyone if you do."** Sakura gulped and grit her teeth.

"The Sakura you talked to.. wasn't me so uh, what did she and you talk about?" Sakura questioned nervously.

"Sakura-san told Tobi that if she beat Tobi in a fight Tobi would teach her to fight, Tobi was confused, because if Sakura-san beat Tobi than Sakura-san didn't need to be taught, because Tobi is the strongest." Sakura almost smiled as he put his hands on his hips and nodded his head confidently.

"So... she beat you then?" Sakura questioned incredulously and Tobi nodded sadly.

"But don't worry, Tobi gets his revenge, because if Tobi teaches Sakura-san than Tobi gets to make sure she has tough training." Tobi looked like he had a gleam in his one eye as he looked at her and Sakura bit her lip.

"Uh.. okay.. Um." Before Sakura could say more Tobi grabbed her hand and vanished taking her along with him.

Izuna's head shot up as he felt the large pulse of chakra from outside the village. He narrowed his eyes as he thought of what it might be, Sakura was after all in that area. He decided to report it to Kakashi anyway, if it was Sakura being attacked then Kakashi would kill him if she got hurt. Meanwhile Sakura and Tobi appeared in Sakura's living room confusing her further.

"What are we doing at my house?" Tobi turned to her and stared at her like she was an idiot.

"Tobi said he would train her, but Sakura-san can't stay here if he is going to train her." Sakura's eyes widened and she stepped away from him.

"What, no I can't become a missing ninja my village they-"

"Need you?" Tobi finished and she hesitantly nodded. "If they needed you or thought you were at all strong they wouldn't have sent a guard to the Hokage's office just for a pulse of chakra." Tobi's voice took a more sinister, deeper tone. Hurt flashed through Sakura's mind as she thought back to all of the things that she was restricted from doing. She wasn't even aloud to go outside the village unless she literally forged Kakashi's signature. She was restricted from any mission above a B and now restricted from any mission. Every guy she tried to date always seemed interested at first then they mysteriously had to work way too much to actually go out on a date. Either that or they would start avoiding her, and Sakura knew who was the reason for that. ANBU always watched her and all everybody did was treat her like a fragile little doll. Sakura grit her teeth and clenched her fists, maybe it was better this way.

" **Atta girl, you don't need this village, leave and show everyone how strong you really are then they'll actually realize what a terrible mistake they made treating you like this."** Sakura smiled the smallest bit at Inner's words. She looked up at Tobi with a newly lit fire in her eyes.

"Okay, I'll pack my things, thank you sensei for choosing to teach me." Sakura bowed politely and Tobi beamed. Sakura ran to her room still with so many doubts filling her mind. There were so many things that could go wrong but at the same time she couldn't care about them. She was tired of sitting and doing nothing, she wanted that thrill of saving people and fighting. She only had a few more things to pack since she had packed so much last night. She sealed her clothes into a scroll and stacked the multiple scrolls into her pack. Running to the kitchen she sealed only the things that she really needed. Most of which were rare spices or teas she couldn't live without.

"Um excuse me Tobi-sensei I need to go and get a few things from the shed in the back." She explained then opened her back door and disabled the seal on the door. She had several things she had been working on inside this shed, they were all equally dangerous. She stuffed everything she could into scrolls and sealed the most important things quickly on her body. She had three tattoos which she got for this exact purpose, you could say leaving had always been on her mind. She felt chakra signatures racing to her house and she bit her lip grabbing a large scroll hung on the wall. She strapped it over her shoulder and ran for her house. Tobi grabbed her hand as she took her first step through the back door and vanished in a flash taking Sakura with him. Seconds later there was a knock at her door.


End file.
